Monitor: Settlers assault Palestinian man near Nablus

A Palestinian stands next to a graffiti reading in Hebrew "Revenge" after a house was set on fire by Jewish settlers in the West Bank village of Duma near Nablus (AFP/Jaafar Ashtiyeh)

NABLUS (Ma'an) -- A number of Israeli settlers on Saturday night attacked a Palestinian man on a main road south of Nablus in the northern occupied West Bank, a local monitor said.

Ghassan Daghlas, who monitors settlement activity in the northern West Bank, told Ma'an that the assault took place at a crossroads near Yatma village south of Nablus.

Witnesses told Daghlas that a number of settlers stepped out of a vehicle and physically attacked 32-year-old Mahmoud Ahmad Othman from the village of Majdal Bani Fadil.

A witness then took Othman to Rafidia hospital in Nablus.

Medics said he sustained moderate to light injuries.

Last week Daghlas reported that an Israeli settler allegedly ran over Muhammad Mustafa Najjar, 19, in Yatma village before fleeing the scene.

Settler violence has come under international scrutiny after an arson attack carried out by settlers last month in the southern Nablus village of Duma killed an 18-month-old infant and his father. The infant's mother and brother remain in critical condition.

Following the attack, Israeli human rights group B'Tselem said that the deadly attack has been "only a matter of time," pointing to a culture of impunity for Israeli settlers.

The perpetrators of settler violence against Palestinian civilians and their property -- both inside of Israel and the occupied territories -- are rarely punished, with police closing the majority investigations without an indictment.

Israeli settlers have carried out at least 133 attacks on Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank and their property since the start of 2015, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.